Reflection
I had the pleasure of interviewing my next-door neighbor Carmen Mendez. Her first language was Spanish, and her parents were both from Mexico. They immigrated to America before she was born here in Texas. Since her parents weren't from here, Spanish was predominately spoken in her household. According to Wright (2015), "Those whose parents do not know English have a further obstacle in learning" (p. 15). Mrs. Mendez told me that she sadly failed Kindergarten and had to be retained because of her lack of English knowledge. Like she mentioned in my interview, she was taught English at home by her father, but it wasn't enough to help her in the very beginning when she was little. Furthermore, it was difficult for her to understand English while in school, with her being inside of a mainstream classroom, with an English speaking teacher, and without the help of an ESL program. It wasn't until later on that she was placed in a classroom with a teacher that spoke both Spanish and English, that helped her immensely with her learning.
Mrs. Mendez spoke of some of the methods and devices that she found helpful to avail her in English. Her teacher would show her flashcards with vocabulary words, lots of images and picture books, and word walls that compared English words with Spanish words. This can be considered a natural approach in which, "the teacher uses a wide variety of techniques, such as total physical response (TPR), ample visuals and realia, small-group work, and any other activities involving meaningful communication that can facilitate the provision of comprehensible input" (Wright, 2015, p. 61). Mrs. Mendez was able to gain a better grasp on the English language. Moreover, compared to her English proficiency back then, she is able to speak conversationally well with English but has trouble with the more complicated words of the language.
Hello Jessica Lopez,
ReplyDeleteI really learned a lot about English Language Learners from your interview with Carmen Mendez. Ms. Mendez explained how they were no dual language programs back when she attended school and she has a hard time learning English. Since Ms. Mendez was not offer any ESL classes she had a hard time catching up to the regular class English level. Unfortunately, it lead to Ms. Mendez to repeat Kindergarten twice. According to Wright (2015), it can take “5 years or longer for ELLs to catch up to proficient English speakers in academic language proficiency” (p. 40). Also, Ms. Mendez explains how her first Kindergarten teacher was a strict English language speaker. Consequently, Ms. Mendez didn’t have an effective language support teacher to help her learn English. According to Wright (2015), “providing effective primary language support is easiest when the teacher or a classroom paraprofessional can speak the home language of the students” (p. 299).
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hi Carla! Thank you for your comment. Yes, sadly Ms. Mendez's teacher made it difficult for her at first to do well in Kindergarten. For a child to not be able to do well in a classroom such as that one, it makes me wonder how other ELLs fathom in the same mainstream classroom that my neighbor was in. Having no primary language support can make it hard for those students to learn and may even stunt their growth in English proficiency.
DeleteJessica, your interview with Carmen was very interesting considering the fact that back when she was in school, dual language programs were not in place yet. However, she did mention that her teacher made connections from Spanish and English that would help her learn the language easier. This is common in other languages where some words sound alike. According to Wright, "morphology is when words are borrowed from other languages to create new ones" (2015, p. 32). Now that Carmen is fluent in both languages, she can speak and hold conversations in multiple contexts. According to Wright, “As students learn the new language, they gain knowledge about how to use the language in sociocultural contexts and construct their social identities through their participation in language mediated-activities” (2015, p. 58).
ReplyDeleteHello Emerald, thank you for commenting on my Entry. Yes, Ms. Mendez was able to do much better when placed in a class that had a teacher that can implement both languages for her. Her fluency of English has definitely grown since her early years of schooling. Indeed, morphology played a role into her learning in her classroom in which Ms. Mendez was able to connect words together using letter blocks and flashcards. Those resources availed her to succeeding in her learning of English.
DeleteHello Jessica, thank you so much for sharing your interview with us! It was definitely interesting listening to your neighbor’s personal experiences as an ELL in the public school system. This provided a window for us to examine the educational development from an ELL’s perspective. It was great that Mrs. Mendez had an educator who used more than one method to help her develop the English language. I really liked the small group activities you mention in your reflection, it reminds me of what we are learning in this course. According to Wright (2010), “Teaching “English” to ELLs includes teaching students how to use language appropriately in face-to-face classroom interaction.” (Wright, 2010, p.40).
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica! Thank you for your wonderful comment. I like how you mentioned that we were able to see what educational development is like from an ELL's Point-of-view. It allows us to understand more of what processes they are going through in order to become English proficient. Also, wonderful quote you stated. I believe that by scaffolding our ELLs, it would benefit them in learning the language properly in the classroom setting.
DeleteHello Jessica! Thank you for sharing your interview with Mrs. Mendez with us! Her story was very interesting to hear! Mrs. Mendez’s story was very similar to the person I interviewed. When she mentioned that she failed kindergarten because she was placed in a class with someone who only spoke English, my interviewee was also placed in an English only class but thrived when she was placed in a classroom with a teacher that spoke English and Spanish! Wright (2015) states that a person who has parents that do not speak English face further obstacles in their learning (pg. 15). Her parents not knowing English might have made her learning harder because it was harder for her parents to advocate for her.
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa! Thank you for your kind words. That is fascinating how we managed to interview people who were alike regarding where they were placed in their early years of schooling. The fact that they both thrived when placed with a teacher that spoke both languages is amazing. They were able to do so much better when in an environment that allowed them to hear both their home language and English.
DeleteYes! I think its very interesting that and can tell us that so many people have the same experience as our interviewees! They were very lucky to have teachers who saw their language as something that could help them and used their language as something that could help the teachers connect to these students!
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